Testimonials for the Post-Graduate Scholarship
The BAA continually awards scholarships to graduate researchers at Bavarian universities. These scholarships are meant to support current research, especially doctoral theses concerning North America. On this page, you find a selection of fellow statements about past experiences with the program.
Beatriz Merino Ruiz
Hana Vrdoljak, 2023
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
My research stay in the United States was very productive and significantly contributed to the advancement of my dissertation. Supported by the BAA Travel Grant, I had the privilege of exploring several archives and libraries, participating in research-related events, and engaging with scholars who share similar academic interests. These experiences not only expanded my understanding of hip hop culture, but also significantly contributed to my overall growth as an emerging researcher. Altogether, the exploration of diverse archival materials and specialist literature during my time on the East Coast was instrumental in refining my analytical approaches and expanding the theoretical framework of my work.
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Kethlen Santini Rodrigues, 2022
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
In October of 2022, I travelled for the first time to the United States, where I planned a research period for my doctoral thesis and participated in the annual Sixteenth Century Society & Conference (SCSC) meeting. Due to the opportunity offered by BAA, I had the financial support to present at the conference, in which I exchanged essential contacts. I am very thankful to the BAA for this opportunity. I recommend you apply for it because awarding me this Travel Grant, BAA has lightened my financial burden, allowing me to follow my research goals and enabling me to take this big step in my career by participating in the conference and helping me become a better researcher.
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Jon-Wyatt Matlack, 2021
University of Regensburg
After an immense struggle to overcome pandemic travel restrictions, the scholarship from the Bavarian American Academy was instrumental to enabling my research in the USA. With stops at the U.S. National Archives in Maryland, and U.S. Army libraries in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, I plunged into the records of U.S. Army-Bundeswehr joint training exercises of the early Cold War. Most extraordinary were the files detailing the fabricated enemies employed by each country in their training of soldiers, revealing crucial divergences in German and American conceptions of the ‘enemy’. I am grateful for the BAA’s support in substantially maturing my project’s analysis of transatlantic military performances.
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Sasha Gora, 2020
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Research requires hours of direct eye contact with laptops and their kin. But it is often the research that is offline and unplugged that takes the lead of a project, which is what makes me grateful for the BAA Fellowship. They generously fuel opportunities to dig through archives, interview interlocutors, and tour museums, monuments, and memorials, and the narratives they tell. As a cultural historian these sensory research experiences are especially invaluable, and in March 2022 I was able to spend a week in the Bay Area filling in gaps for my forthcoming book. I would recommend the BAA Fellowship to other scholars working with source material that goes beyond the screen.
